Richard Bartrem is a seasoned marketing and communications executive with over 35 years of proven leadership and management experience and is the founder of 13 stories marketing communications. Richard is an energetic, creative and dynamic leader who brings a boundless energy to strategy conversations, big picture thinking, telling compelling stories and growing strong brands.

Prior to his retirement in September 2022, Richard was the Vice-President, Communications, Brand and Community Investment for WestJet, responsible for brand and product marketing, social media, public and media relations, internal communications, sponsorship, the WestJet store and community investment. He joined WestJet in 2005 as Director, Brand and Communications and over the course of his career at WestJet, helped shape the brand identity as seen and loved by millions of Canadians and was named the strongest airline brand in the world in the Brand Finance 2022 rankings.

Richard is an accomplished public speaker with more than 100 presentations on brand, communications and culture and has presented at business schools, to boards of directors and to audiences in the thousands in North American and Europe. A native of Montréal and fluently bilingual in English and French, Richard has lived in Calgary with his wife and two children for almost 20 years.